


Bound by a thread

by purplecake (MordorNPP)



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fix-It, I suck at titles once again, M/M, Red String of Fate, and at summaries as well, doesn't go with my hcs in some way but hey that's what the alternate universes are for, well the end implies it's kind of a fix-it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 19:41:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21041702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MordorNPP/pseuds/purplecake
Summary: The red thread appeared on Hastur’s pinky finger when he was still in Eden, but it took him some time to discover his soulmate.





	Bound by a thread

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, I just really wanted to write this AU. The concept of the red string in this story is the following. You start to see your red string on your pinky when you meet your soulmate, and it kind of moves to the direction of your soulmate. And when you touch each other's hands, a singular string between your and your soulmate's fingers . When your soulmate dies, the string disappears. Anyway that's it, hope you enjoy!

The red thread on Hastur’s pinky finger appeared when he was still in Eden, but he never remembered when – he used to meet a lot of angels every day back then, and you could never tell which meeting triggered the thread to show up. It didn’t become any clearer after the Fall, for there were thousands and thousands of strings, all tied up in a complicated thick knot. Gradually, the knot started to untangle, and in a few centuries some demon soulmates had found each other – but Hastur wasn’t one of them. There was always a possibility that his soulmate stayed in Heaven, but the newly appointed Duke of Hell highly doubted it – it would be quite odd for a demon to have an angel for a soulmate. And besides, finding a soulmate wasn’t a priority in Hell for the next couple of thousands of years. Work needed to be done, humans needed to be tempted – everything to ensure Hell’s victory in the final war.

It didn’t bother him until he started to work closely with Ligur. The demon with a chameleon on his head was appointed to work with Hastur on a few tasks, and after a while the number of those tasks surged until their collaboration became permanent. Of all the demons he had ever worked with, Hastur found Ligur to be the most tolerable, and their working methods matched well together. For Hell’s sake, the two demons even managed to spend time outside work together, and they both pretty much enjoyed it.

And yet, there was a thing that Hastur didn’t notice until he had known the other Duke of Hell for a few centuries: whenever they interacted, the loose end of Hastur’s string was moving from side to side. It was certainly strange and sometimes distracting, but he wasn’t in a hurry to act upon it. What if he was mistaken and Ligur’s soulmate was actually someone else? Their relationship was definitely something he had never experienced with anyone else, and there were a few hints of something more than just a colleague – colleague bond, but still…

It seemed a fairly ordinary chilly night when Hastur and Ligur were lurking in the marshes together that summer somewhere in Europe in the 1300s. It was true that the temptations that they had already performed that night were exceptional and their number was enough to meet the quota for that month and the next month as well. It was also true that it was past two in the morning, and they were able to leave right that moment if they wanted to, for they practically had no work to do now. The demons, however, decided to do some more lurking until dawn. It was supposed to be their usual lurking, but after the events that followed in a few moments, it was lurking they were going to remember for a very long time.

Grey heavy clouds were gathering at the sky, and the light drizzle was ready to become a normal rain. Ligur had offered to move to a new spot, and Hastur and Ligur were now slowly walking forward until they would find a darker and damper place. It was all walking across the shallow waters of the marshes and uttering a few words from time to time. That was until one of Ligur’s feet met a driftwood log which was inconveniently (or conveniently, in a way) lying on the bottom on the marsh. Naturally, Ligur’s foot slipped, the shorter demon lurched to the left, and Hastur, knowing what was about to happen, couldn’t allow him to fall into the bog completely. In an attempt to help Ligur get back on his feet, he quickly grasped the other demon’s right hand – reflexively, without any thinking whatsoever.

As their hands touched for a brief period of time, they both felt a spark, and Hastur instantly drew back – he wasn’t used to the sensation he had just felt. He was about to mutter something in his defense when he caught Ligur’s stunned look, and looked in the same direction. Something was going on with their fingers – their red strings, to be exact. Their strings swayed slightly from side to side until their ends were facing each other. As if there were magnets with opposite polarity inside them, the strings started to stretch, gravitating towards each other. Finally, a perfect continuous thread was formed, connecting the pinkies of the two demons, who were staring at it without saying a word. It didn’t take them long to realize what just happened – just in a few seconds, _they both knew_.

***

In a crowded square somewhere in the center of London, no one paid much attention to the tall figure in a trenchcoat. Even though the Apocalypse didn’t happen, there was some work to be done this afternoon, and Hastur couldn’t just get on with it. Over the past few days, the only emotions he felt were numbness and utter detachment from all the things that used to comprise his world. And you wouldn’t feel any other way if you saw your soulmate completely destroyed by Holy Water a few days ago. But Hell knew no weekends or vacations, and once again, Hastur found himself not far from the place where his partner was untimely killed.

The work would have gone better if Ligur was with him right now. They’d be standing somewhere more remote, lurking, awaiting for the right moment to start their job. They would always hold hands or lock their pinkies while they were lurking - it felt natural for them. Hastur missed those touches, and as he was leaning more into this feeling of wistfulness, he was remembering other things that Ligur and he exchanged – which were more than just occasional touches, obviously. The memories flooding his head were almost unbearable, and Hastur felt the urge to bite his fingers to dull the pain. But just as he had raised his hand, he noticed something between his fingers that made him freeze in shock that very moment. Did he just imagine that, or …?

The demon was staring at his pinky in astonishment, and there it was. The crimson red thread was as good as new, just as it was the first time he saw it. He moved his hand side to side, unsure whether it was real or it would disappear in a moment. The string remained the same, steadily tied around his little finger. It can’t be, Hastur thought to himself, Ligur’s gone, he saw it with his very eyes, and the string disappeared as well back then. He touched the reappeared string once again with disbelief. He thought more about this. And then - _he knew_.

Maybe it was the time to try and actually follow the thread, see where it was leading to. He was still unsure whether what he thought was true, but something new in his soul – hope – told him to be confident. And it was clear as the sky above that day: it wouldn’t be long before he and Ligur would entwine their fingers together again – just as it was meant to be.


End file.
